Liquid vegetables?

[Quiksilver]

Anyone here do the smoothie thing?

Just purchased a blender a few days ago, because I haven't been able to consistently do the fresh vegetable thing.

Its pretty easy for me to chuck some spinach, broccoli, carrot, grapes, apple, banana, milk and ice into a blender in the morning while waiting for coffee water to boil. Then just dump the contents into a thermos and its good to go for the whole day at work.

Its easy and fast and is a full day of fruit and veg right there.

I am assuming you get the same nutrition as if you ate it normally? The food looks like that once it hits your stomach anyway right? I guess you aren't getting the thermogenic effects or whatever but all the minerals and vitamins are still there?

Just wondering whether anybody else does the same.

[Kerpal]

That seems like a good idea. How does it taste? I can't stand the taste of vegetables.

[Bible_Belt]

Smoothies are a lot better than making juice, because smoothies still have fiber. There might be some very minor chemical changes relating to oxidation, but I think it's still very healthy.

fwiw, frozen fruit is great in smoothies, because you don't have to add ice.

[goodfoot]

Sounds like a good idea. I may try this myself.

[Quiksilver]

I'm not really an expert ...

Here's my "recipe" put into the blender in this order (bigger stuff is cut down to blendable pieces):

A bit of milk, probably 500mL (2 cups).
vanilla yoghurt (1 cup)
baby spinach leaves, 2 fistfulls
red grapes, a handful
banana, a whole one cut into pieces
an orange or apple or pear or whatever, cut into pieces
a few little 'trees' of broccoli.

then,

3 scoops of whey isolate.

blend it all for a few seconds, then:

put a couple handfulls of ice cubes in and blend for 5-10 seconds

make sure you get a blender that can chew ice ... mine seems to work so far.

--

I just chuck most of it into a thermos and take it to work, still ice cold by afternoon.

--

The taste is okay. Spinach doesnt have a strong taste so its not too bad. Ive only put a little broccoli in so far, still easing my way into that one. dont want to overdo it.

It should turn green from the spinach too.

I'm aiming for 60% fruit 40% vegetable, + milk + yoghurt + whey + ice. going to try to do

plenty of recipes on the net but i just do whatever works. trying to get different fruits/veggies each time but sticking to the spinach and banana as a base. vanilla yoghurt thickens it up pretty well, and a little milk helps.

[search1ng]

might add this to the prepping food thing I'm doing. Just over cooking in general and I need a healthy alternative.

I've resorted to those frozen vege's you get (the brocolli, coliflower, carrot mixed that come frozen and pre-packaged) and just microwave.

[PokerStar]

.

I've resorted to those frozen vege's you get (the brocolli, coliflower, carrot mixed that come frozen and pre-packaged) and just microwave.

microwaving is soo bad for your food. if you can try and steam cook your veggies. most of the nutrients will still be locked in. When you micro wave your veggies you are just getting rid of the nutirents within.

[search1ng]

actually the whole microwaving so so bad cause you're nuking your food thing is a myth. Read an article on it somewhere. I'll link it if I find it.

[speed dawg]

I make smoothies all the time, mainly with fruit though, because I actually hate fruit. I like most vegetables, so I eat them whole. I typically do them for a quick breakfast. It's usually either that or V8 juice for my morning dose of veg./fruit.

Typically I'll put whey in my smoothies (along with milk and the fruit, sometimes bananas, strawberries, raspberries, black and blue berries, or any combination thereof). I don't use ice very much or frozen fruit, because I like to chug it and that's hard to do when it's so cold.

If I don't do the smoothie I'll usually pair V8 with oatmeal, eggs or cottage cheese. Sometimes peanut butter toast.

[Perry]

actually the whole microwaving so so bad cause you're nuking your food thing is a myth. Read an article on it somewhere. I'll link it if I find it.

I would very much like to see that article.

[Quiksilver]

I'm not convinced it matters what shape your food is in when you eat it.

Whats the difference between eating raw spinach, blended spinach, or microwaved spinach?

Once it hits the intestines after passing through your stomach, it literally looks like sh1t anyways, and the intestines is where most of the nutrient absorbtion takes place.

Chewing food is just a primitive way of blending food anyways.

Not sure about microwaving, the answer is probably easy to find but I don't use the microwave much anyways.

[horaholic]

The difference between drinking or eating your veggies, is that your body doesnt need to spend any energy chewing, and digesting it, and can focus that energy towards healing instead.

BTW, I read the article about the nuking food myth also. Here's a link:

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/Microwave-cooking-and-nutrition.shtml

Some nutrients do break down when they’re exposed to heat, whether it is from a microwave or a regular oven. Vitamin C is perhaps the clearest example. So, as a general proposition, cooking with a microwave probably does a better job of preserving the nutrient content of foods because the cooking times are shorter.

Micrawaves DO break down some nutrients, but not as much as people believe. Boiling your vegetable in water is what loses the most nutrients.

[Hockey Playa]

http://www.nutrawayscanada.com/Vege-Greens_p_1199.html


i mix this with water sometimes and drink it....it tastes like blueberry. Not sure about the nutritional value though, apparently im getting my vegetables for the day

[Krazy]

They still make V-8 right?